Feb. 29, 2008

Atlantic Sun Indoor Men's Day 1 Results
Atlantic Sun Indoor Women's Day 1 Results
Audio of Upstate athlete Goggins at the A-Sun Indoor Championships

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - It was a historic day for USC Upstate and freshman distance runner Emily Tangwar, who etched her name in the Spartan record book by winning the women's 3000 meters with a time of 10:10.31 at the Atlantic Sun Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at East Tennessee State University Friday afternoon.

"It was an amazing, gutsy performance," Upstate men's and women's track and field head coach Jimmy Stephens said. "(Emily) ran a perfect race and battled it out to get the win."

Tangwar was trailing heading into the final 200 meters, but put on a burst of speed to get by North Florida senior Amanda Davey, who finished a close second at 10:11.78, to claim the win. With her victory, she becomes Upstate's first-ever individual A-Sun champion in any sport and will try to add two more conference titles on Saturday when she competes in the women's mile run and 5000 meters.

Stephens said that Tangwar's win is something that benefits both the men's and women's programs.

"It's huge. To be a first-year program and have someone win a conference championship is something for your program to build off of," Stephens said.

In men's track and field action, freshman athlete Perrish Goggins leads the men's heptathlon after four of seven events with 2930 points. Goggins won the long jump with a jump of 22-09.25 and the high jump at 6-08.25. He also finished a close second in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.27 and fourth in the shot put. Junior Marc Wartenburger is fifth overall in the heptathlon with 2457 points and was second in the shot put portion at 36-06.25. The heptathlon will end on Saturday with three events: the 60 meter hurdles, the pole vault and the 1000 meters.

"(Perrish) did a good job in the heptathlon," Stephens said. "The first day's events were, obviously, some of his strongest and tomorrow will be more of challenge, but with him being the athlete he is, he could pull out the win."

Freshman Justin Crawford also picked up a point for the Spartans with a sixth place finish in the men's pole vault clearing a height of 14-01.25. Freshman James Miles fnished seventh in the men's shot put with a throw of 45-08.00.

Both men's and women's teams currently stand in seventh place in the team standings heading into the final day of competition. Stephens remarked that he was proud of both team's performances and that he is looking forward to the final day of competition.

"Both teams had a tremendous day," Stephens said. "All of our throwers set personal records in the shot put and we just did a great job. I'm very happy with our performance."

The Atlantic Sun Indoor Championships conclude on Saturday beginning at 8:40 a.m.